Hellen Charles News Today

“YYou’re going to have to have to be able to run through horses, take dirt and be a man,” Russell said. “He sure acts like he’s a man.”

Hillwood Stable’s Grade 3-winning millionaire and Mid-Atlantic fan favorite Cordmaker left trainer Rodney Jenkins’ Laurel Park barn for the last time Sunday, five days after the 8-year-old gelding was retired with an ankle injury.

Now, the 32-year-old Pennsylvania native is poised to take it one step further. She is not only on the verge of securing her third meet championship at Laurel’s calendar-year ending fall stand but becoming the first woman to finish the year as the state’s leading trainer.

Trainer Brittany Russell on Post Time: “It was pretty fun. He won a stake basically in a hand ride. He didn’t come out of a gallop.”

Two-year-old Post Time continued to impress with a dominant, rallying score in Saturday's Mayrland Juvenile Championship and may be on to bigger things.

Post Time took the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile and Malibu Moonshine won the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Fillies, both for Maryland-bred/sired horses sprinting seven furlongs Saturday at Laurel Park.

Jenkins and Hillwood’s Ellen Charles have yet to decide whether Cordmaker will return as an 8-year-old in 2023. Ultimately, the decision will be left up to the horse.

Over the last four and a half years, there isn’t much that jockey Victor Carrasco and Hillwood Stable’s Cordmaker haven’t done together.The Eclipse Award winner as champion apprentice of 2013 was up when Cordmaker, a chestnut son of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin, ran third in his Aug. 19, 2017, debut at Laurel Park in Maryland.Carrasco, 29, will be back aboard for the 25th time and 10th in a row in Saturday’s $250,000 General George (G3).

Holden Forests & Gardens announced it will kick off the new year with virtual classes for nature lovers including "Garden for All Seasons: Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Hillwood" on Jan. 21. To reserve a spot for the class taking place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., visit holdenarb.org/hfg-virtual-classes/.  Set on 25 acres in Washington, D.C., Hillwood is the embodiment of Marjorie Merriweather Post’s grand vision, according to a news release. Working with the landscape duo Umberto Innoce...